True my existence never mattered to anyone. But when one morning I turned into a roach and my family found me missing, it did upset them at all. And in those 24 hours of metamorphosis I lived to change the way I had lived as an uncared part of a regular family.
It was November 25th, when one night I slept under two layers of cozy blankets, to prevent the excessive cold which I was suddenly feeling. All night I was feeling too sleepless. My nose was closed my ears were experiencing buzzing noise and my eyes were apparently more sandy than usual. I woke up from a really bad dream on the morning of 26th, and forgot about the dream within five minutes of waking up. Still, waking up after a bad night’s sleep was not enough for me. A bigger nightmare was my reality when I saw myself in the bathroom mirror.
I checked the mirror twice before finally grossing out. It turned out I was shrunk to half my actual size and somehow 4 pair of legs grew out of me. I realised how my face extended into antennas and also the the wings at my back. They were all part of my body then. When I rubbed the mirror twice and once my eyes, I found out that I was in a situation where my body was terribly changed into a hideous creature which I myself hated so much.
Then my door knocked open and while still in the bathroom I heard my little sister walk in. I was concious that she might see me in that state but no! She came in.. took my t shirt and walked out. For half an hour I thought about how will I show myself to the others. My size further shrank and my new size was just over one meter at that point of time, which made me fear for my life too.
Then again I heard someone coming upstairs. So I started to look something for my defense, just in case someone comes to look for me and finds a big cold blooded beatle in my place, even one misunderstanding would get me killed at these crucial hours. Finally my mind came up with a hopeful solution, I thought I should try speaking. So jokingly I said I am the lord of roaches. To hear my human voice, made me more than relieved to know my speaking abilities were not threatened by this transformation. I spoke the words as fluently as ever. Then I thought I should rehearse to reveal my identity in front of the mirror. Somehow managing to shift a chair in the bathroom I spoke, ” hi! Mom, dad, it’s me rahul.”
Suddenly the door knocked open without a warning, so I burried my pitiful self under layers of blankets as an instant response to the sudden threat. It was my mom and she brought my breakfast thinking I was ill and left without asking anything. Till evening I remained in that very tragic shape. Surfing google to lend me some instant cure. I read Kafka and camus but found no cure. I wanted to go downstairs and see what my family was doing but I remembered I fear them now. But what was more heartbreaking was infact that noone came to see that I am not in the room.
By the end of the day I realised no one was intrested in knowing if I am alright. Every one was just busy doing their daily chores. As If I never existed. It was tough to imagine how my beloved family for whom I have worked head over heels in day and night out of attachment are now a potential threat and does not even care about me. In that empty hours of chaos I introspect and recieved a big lesson of life too that you were born alone and you will be alone in your grave. So I came to conclude that I myself need to remind them of my existence. I lionheartedly flew downstairs and sat on my sister’s fleece jacket. She screemed and ran to mom, shaking me off. Few minutes later mom came with a folded newspaper in her hands all she wanted was to kill me. So I dodged her and had a dip in my father’s hot coffee. It was just like a hot water bath but a little too delicious. So my father was also after me then. I flew to the top of curtains and then slipped under the cramped cracks under the sofa. These were the perks of growing up in the same home as I knew almost every possible hideout. I had option to speak but my motive was to catch everyones attention. Though this was a risky task still I did it to regain my lost position in the family. I regret the moment I allowed my family to take me for granted. So I went out of my hideout and ran to my room.
My sister shouted in her annoying voice, ” mom see the roach is going to Rahul’s room”.
Locating me all of them ran after me again carrying dangerous weapons such as newspapers and brooms. I ran so fast that day that if I had done it while I was human I would have certainly won a gold in the Olympics. Saving my life where my own family was showering brooms on me I finally managed to squeeze my tiny body under the door and enter my room. After my my family came looking inside as well. I hid myself under the bed. While my mother and sister were busy searching for the roach, my father pointed out that I was missing. Now the roach search was over and in the middle of it Rahul search started picking up it’s ground. They looked for me all over the place but I was still missing.
Judging by their disappointed faces, I sneaked out again this time to reveal myself. They were sitting with backs towards me. As I was about to tell them my identity, sudden uneasiness arose in my head it started aching. It became too unbearable that I shouted. All of them tilted their heads to see me. I saw them and then towards me, I was back to my normal self. They asked me where was I gone. And I answered, ” to get some attention”.
